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CH. VIII.]

PLAN FOR CONFEDERATION OF THE COLONIES.

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There being every appearance of war between England and France, the royal governors in the colonies made applications for a levy of militia, which were warmly responded to by the northern colonies, the southern displaying far less zeal. As it was known that a French squadron, destined to carry out four thousand troops, under Baron Dieskau, was preparing to sail from Brest, Admiral Boscawen was sent to intercept it; but the greater part of the ships succeeded in throwing their forces into Canada and Louisburg, although one or two fell into the hands of the

Hampshire and Rhode Island; this means of royal troops, the colonies number of forty-eight to remain fixed; furnishing such help as they might no colony to have more than seven nor less than two members; but the apportionment within those limits to vary with the rates of contribution. This Council was to undertake the defence of the colonies as a general charge, to apportion quotas of men and money, to control the colonial armies, to enact ordinances of general interest, and to provide for the general welfare. It was to have for its head a presidentgeneral appointed by the crown, to possess a negative on all acts of the Council, the appointment of all military officers, and the entire management of Indian affairs. Civil officers were to be appointed by the Council, with the consent of the president. | English. No formal declaration of Such was the first official suggestion of what grew afterwards to be our present Federal Constitution."*

It is worthy of remark that this plan met with no favor from either the Colonial Assemblies or the Board of Trade. "The Assemblies," says Franklin, speaking of it some thirty years afterwards, "all thought there was too much prerogative in it; and in England it was thought to have too much of the democratic in it." The home government, too, probably felt suspicious of anything like united action among the colonies, since it might teach them their strength and foster the idea of independence. It was determined, therefore, as best, all things considered, to carry on the war by

*Hildreth's "History of the United States," vol. ii. p. 443.

war had as yet been issued, but meanwhile each was engaged in measures to annoy and injure the other.

Dinwiddie was a good deal mortified at the uncompliant humor of the Assembly, and he gave utterance to no light complaints in his dispatches. They did, however, vote a respectable military force, in which, to avoid disputes about rank among the officers, a general order gave precedence in all cases to those commissioned by the king or commander-in-chief, over such as had only colonial commissions. This excited disgust, of course, in the minds of men like Washington and his fellow-officers; and self-respect urged him to resign his commission immediately. Having done this, he devoted himself to looking after his private affairs.

General Braddock was appointed commander-in-chief, and early in 1775,

1755.

was dispatched to the Chesapeake with two British regiments. Two regiments of a thousand men in each were ordered to be raised and officered in New England, and three thousand men were to be enlisted in Pennsylvania by the authority of the crown. In April, Braddock met a convention of colonial governors at Alexandria, where three expeditions were determined upon. One, commanded by himself, was to proceed against Fort Duquesne, and expel the French from the Ohio; a second, under Shirley, of Massachusetts, recently appointed major-general, was to march against Niagara; and a third, under Johnson, a man of vast influence among the Six Nations, was to undertake the capture of Crown Point, on the western shore of Lake Champlain.*

Braddock was a brave soldier, and had served with credit in the field; but he was entirely ignorant of the peculiarities of warfare in the New World, and what was worse, was determined to take no advice from those better informed than himself. Vexed at the delays in the means of transportation, and the malpractices of the contractors, he indulged himself in no measured terms against every thing and every body in America, and became less and less disposed to listen to any advice. Franklin visited him at Fredericton, ostensibly in discharge of his duty as post-master, and offered his interven

* According to a return made to the Board of Trade, the population of the colonies amounted at

tion with the farmers and others, in order to expedite matters for the general's proposed campaign. Braddock gladly availed himself of this timely aid. Franklin also ventured to hint the possibility of danger in the new kind of warfare which was before the royal troops. "In conversation with him one day," says Franklin, "he was giving me some account of his intended progress. ed progress. 'After taking Fort Duquesne,' said he, 'I am to proceed to Niagara; and having taken that, to Frontenac, if the season will allow time, and I suppose it will; for Duquesne can hardly detain me three or four days; and then I see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara.' Having before revolved in my mind," continues Franklin, "the long line his army must make in their march by a very narrow road, to be cut for them through the woods and bushes, and also what I had read of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French, who invaded the Illinois country, I had conceived some doubts and some fears for the event of the campaign. But I ventured only to say, 'To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, so well provided with artillery, the fort, though completely fortified, and assisted with a very strong garrison, can probably make but a short resistance. The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march, is from the ambuscades of the Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in laying and executing them; and the slender line, near four miles long,

this date to nearly 1,500,000, of which not quite which your army must make, may ex

300,000 were blacks. The population of New France

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it to be attacked by surprise in its

CH. VIII.]

BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION AND DEFEAT.

flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come up in time to support each other.' He smiled at my ignorance, and replied, 'These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia; but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make any impression.' I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with a military man in matters of his profession, and said no more."* The result showed, unhappily, that the philosopher, on this occasion, was able to judge more clearly than the man trained in exact European military science, and full of prejudice in favor of established routine.

Washington, at Braddock's earnest request, was prevailed upon to serve as aid-de-camp, a position which he supposed would give him facilities for studying the art of war under a strictly scientific commander. "The sole motive which invites me to the field," as he says in a letter to one of his friends, "is the laudable ambition of serving my country, not the gratification of any ambitious or lucrative plans. This, I flatter myself, will appear by my going as a volunteer, without expectation of reward, or prospect of obtaining a command, as I am confidently assured it is not in General Braddock's power to give me a commission that I would accept." The advice of Washington was sought by the perplexed general, who found the season rapidly passing away, and he and his troops advancing at

* Autobiography of Franklin, p. 148.

231

only a snail's pace. Washington urged him to push forward with a light armed division, leaving the rest of the forces to follow under Colonel Dunbar. Braddock acted upon this suggestion, and set forth with twelve hundred men and ten field pieces; but he treated with great contempt the advice of his more experienced aid-de-camp, as to the need of caution in regard to ambushes of the French and Indians. It was getting late in the month of June; Washington was suddenly taken ill of a fever, and was obliged to remain behind at Youghieny, in charge of his friend, Dr. Craik; but eager to rejoin the army, he set off, weak as he was, on the 3d of July, in a covered waggon, and reached the camp on the 8th, when Braddock, having consumed a month in marching about a hundred miles, was now within fifteen miles of Fort Duquesne.

1755.

The attack was to be made the next day. Washington again begged to be allowed to send out the Virginia rangers to examine the dangerous passes yet to be gone through; but Braddock peremptorily and angrily refused. It was an inspiriting sight to see the pomp and circumstance of parade and military exactness, the next morning, the 9th of July, when the troops, as if on a gala day, set out to ford the Monongahela, with bayonets fixed, colors flying, and drums and fifes beating and playing. Washington was in raptures with the scene, and often, in later days, spoke of it as the most beautiful spectacle he had ever witnessed. It was nearly two o'clock when the troops had all passed the river. They were ascending a

and liberty.* Horatio Gates, after-
wards a general of note in the Revolu-
tion, was also severely wounded. The
Virginia troops fought most bravely,
and in a way adapted to the wiles of
hidden foes. But it was all in vain.
The rout became complete, and panic-
stricken, the troops fled in headlong
confusion, abandoning every thing, bag-
gage, stores, artillery, to the enemy, and
that enemy, too, only a small detach-
ment of French and Canadian soldiers,
and some six hundred or more Indians!
In this murderous defeat, twenty-six
officers were killed and thirty-six
wounded, and more than seven hun-
dred soldiers were among the dead and
wounded; the French and Indian loss
did not exceed sixty or seventy. The
survivors, fleeing when no man pursued,
stopped not till they reached Colonel
Dunbar and the rear guard. The un-
happy Braddock died on the 13th of
July; and Washington, in the
absence of the chaplain, read
the Funeral Service over his remains.
"Who would have thought it?" were
among his dying words, and sensible of .

rising ground covered with long grass
and bushes, the road being only about
twelve feet wide, and flanked by two
ravines, concealed by trees and thick-
ets, when suddenly a quick and heavy
firing was heard in front. Washing-
ton's fears of an ambush of French and
Indians had proved only too true.
Stricken with terror, the vanguard,
after losing half their number, and
firing at random into the forest, fell
back, as Braddock, alarmed at the noise,
hastened forward with the rest of the
troops. The terrific yells of the In-
dians, the volleys incessantly poured in
by the ambushed foe, the impossibility
of making head against an enemy
whom they could not see, soon threw the
royal troops into hopeless confusion,
which Braddock vainly sought, for three
terrible hours, to retrieve, by display-
ing the most desperate bravery. Five
horses had been killed under him, and
he was still urging on his men, when he
received a shot in the lungs, and, though
anxious to be left to die upon the scene
of his discomfiture, was carried off into
the rear. His aid-de-camps, Orme and
Morris, were already disabled, Sir Peter
Halket and his son fell together mor-
tally wounded, and Washington, who years afterwards, Washington was visited by an aged
displayed the utmost courage and pres-
ence of mind, as he hurried to and fro
with Braddock's orders, was a repeated finding that none of these balls took effect, he con-
mark for the enemy's bullets, four of
which passed through his coat, while
two horses were shot under him. His
escape without even a wound was al-
most miraculous, and we may well be-
lieve that one so signally preserved, was
preserved for very especial service yet
to be rendered to the cause of truth

1755.

There is a well-attested tradition, that many

and venerable Indian chief, who declared that during the battle, he had repeatedly taken aim at him, and directed several of his warriors to do the same, but

cluded that the young hero was under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, and could never perish in battle. From that moment he ceased from all further attempts to take the life of Washington.

† We beg leave to refer the curious reader to" The History of the Expedition against Fort Duquesne, in 1755, under Major-general Edward Braddock. Edited from the original manuscript, by Winthrop

Sargent. It is a volume that will well repay examination.

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Expedition up the Bay of Fundy - Acadie and the French neutrals - Their expatriation - Cruelty of this act Shirley's expedition against Oswego - William Johnson Influence with the Indians Hendrick the old Sachem - Battle of Lake George Dieskau's death - Fort William Henry-Indians on the frontier - Action in Pennsylvania and Virginia Washington made colonel - Campaign of 1755 unsuccessful Washington's devotion to duty-War declared by England - Loudon commander-in-chief- Bradstreet at Oswego Montcalm takes Oswego His activity and skill-Loudon's procrastination - 1756 also unsuccessful Plans for 1757 - Loudon against Louisburg - Too late-Montcalm assaults Fort William Henry-Slaughter of the troops, after the surrender, by the Indians Montcalm's share in this act of treachery - Great alarm in the colonies - Complaints and discontent general - Pitt prime minister - His energetic course — Attack on Louisburg - This stronghold taken Abercrombie's expedition against Ticonderoga - Lord Howe's death Abercrombie repulsed - Superseded by Amherst Bradstreet against Fort Frontenac Forbes takes Fort Duquesne-Plan of the campaign of 1759 Conquest of Canada determined upon Amherst's expedition, and capture of Ticonderoga — Prideaux and Johnson take Niagara -- Neither able to join Wolfe Neither able to join Wolfe - The attack on Quebec Wolfe's and Montcalm's death Canada subdued Views of French statesmen as to the consequence Washington's marriage — Is a member of the House of Burgesses Great exultation in the colonies at the success of the contest with the French Cherokee war at the South-Its progress and conclusion Otis against "Writs of Assistance". Otis's eloquence - English arms turned against the French in the West Indies - The peace of Paris The English masters on the continent Further Indian troubles The conspiracy of Pontiac-End of the contest.

WHILE Admiral Boscawen was cruising off the coast of Newfoundland, watching for the French fleet, which, as we have before stated, escaped falling into his hands, a force of ten thousand men embarked at Boston for the Bay of Fundy. The French settlements here, it was asserted, were encroachments on the province of Nova Scotia. Colonel Monckton took the

VOL. I.-32

1755.

command of the troops, and in the
early part of June, 1755, succeeded,
without much difficulty, in tak
ing the forts at Beau Sejour and
Gaspereau. The fort at the mouth of
the St. John's River, on the approach
of the English, was abandoned and
burned. It had proved not difficult
to drive out the French troops from
the Bay of Fundy; but it became a

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